Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-09-19
CORNERED BY BEARS.

=" Yes, sir, that was about the closest call |
ever had"
This remark, coming from well-built,
good-looking, young miner, and made with
a serious infection that left no doubt of its
sincerity, attracted the attention of NewS
reporter who happened to be standing close
TO a group of mining men few days ago.
|" 1t was last winter" continued the
miner, "when me and my partner, Jim
Rogers, was working an assessment on a
couple of old prospects ofours up III Geneva
Park, about half way between Grant and
Montezuma. Grub had given out a few
days before, and while Jim was driving
the work on 100-foot level through solid
rock, | started over to Montezuma for a
supply of grub Snow Well, | should
remark And cold Well, if we
hadn't had to have grub, nothing else
would have got me over that seven miles
and back, but it had to come over, and
brought it. | had Just got to the cabin and
fixed up supper for Jim and me, and got
the dishes on the table. l stepped to the
door to throw out some potato parings,
talking to Jim, when, as turned around
at the door, saw looking through the
little window at the side of the cabin, one
of the ugliest and biggest bears that ever
want to see. She was sitting up on her
launches and looking right at me, and as
] turned little more | saw through the
partly open door two more big bears in
front of the cabin. We didn't have even
a dirk knife in the house, no gun or re-
volver, and the ak was at the wood-pile,
thirty feet from the door, and the two
bears between me and it. l tell you
I roi,i,,' kaor-
minute. A good deal quicker than
Pm telling this l jumped for the poker
that we used to fasten the cabin door with,
and slipped it into place. Just then the old
she bear at the window gave a growl and
made pass at the window with her paw.
Biff, it came, sash, glass, and all on the
floor. Before the noise had stopped smash
came the other bears against the door, and
it's only miracle that it didn't come in.
The poker was bent all out of shape. Well,
Jim and me did lots of thinking about that
time, and if ever | wanted 45-repeater /
wanted it right then. You see, the snow
had been lying awful deep up there, and the
bears were ravenous and most likely hadn't
had anything to eat for a long time They
have got to get terribly hungry before they
will attack cabin like that
eve threw burning paper and fire.
brands, dishes and everything we could get
hands on at the old bear in the window,
but she Just stood there and glared at US.
l never thought there could be so much
fire in an eve as there was in hers. She
stood there looking at us and we at her,
when all at once we heard noise on the
roof You bet we knew what it was, too,
and we were about ready to give up then.
The two-year-olds, the old bears cubs, had
got up on the dirt roof Of the cabin.
Pretty soon they commenced throwin' dirt,
and in about two minutes had got down to
the poles that held the dirt. We could
look right up through the poles where the
dirt was clawed off and see them. And
wasn't they mad! They would claw along
Iengthwise of the poles and rake the
bark off every clip and every min
ute we were expecting them to get
their claws between the poles, and
then We would be gone. If they had
known enough to give one or two
scrapes sideways they could easily have
scooped off enough poles to let them down
in What then? Well, the bears would
have had a square meal, and l wouldn't be
here telling you about it. All the time
they were scraping away up there | stood
with the straw bedtick on the floor open
and lighted candle In my hand. As l
told Jim, it was poor chance, but I'd
rather be burned up than eaten up. The
old bear stayed right there at the window
all the time watching us. 1t was too small
for her or she'd been in herself. After a
while they seemed to get tired, and, after
prowling around the cabin until we were
near frightened To death they went off
measured the biggest ones tracks in the
snow next morning. and it was fourteen
inches long. 1t wasn't long before that
cabin had a rife in it, and you don't catch
me in bear country again with no pro
Denuer NewS